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James glanced away with a rueful smile.
‘What is it?’
He shook his head.
Now she really needed to know. Nothing was more important than finding out what James Hunter-Savage dreamed of.
‘Okay,’ she said, ‘I’ll go first.’ She lowered her voice. No-one apart from Eveline knew what she was about to say. ‘I’ve always wanted to enter a mounted archery competition.’
His eyes met hers, surprise on his face. ‘Why don’t you?’
She shrugged. ‘Not enough time. I can’t leave the livery or the manor. And anyway, I’m not good enough.’
‘Yet…’
He held her gaze. Unspoken words and feelings ricocheted between them. How well did she really know him?
‘Go on then,’ she said, feeling out of breath. ‘What have you dreamed of doing?’
What looked like vulnerability flashed across his features and he shook his head again.
‘Oh, come on now.’ She lowered her voice to a whisper. ‘No-one here knows my dream of competing.’
He stared at the envelope. ‘I’ve always dreamed of falling in love,’ he said quietly, then took another question and read it aloud as if he hadn’t just bared his soul to her. ‘How do you show people that you love them?’ He sniffed. ‘Easy. I do things for them.’ He glanced at her. ‘You?’
Her mind was racing. ‘The same.’ And it was true. She primarily showed her love by stepping up and trying to make the lives of those around her better.
Estelle grabbed another piece of paper and read the question out before thinking. ‘When did you last have sex?’ Her gaze snapped across the table. ‘Libby! Seriously?’
‘I most certainly did not include that question!’ Libby retorted. ‘Show it to me.’
Estelle held up the piece of paper.
‘That is not my handwriting.’ Libby turned to the end of the table. ‘Arthur?’
‘Ho ho ho!’ he chuckled. ‘I thought I’d liven things up a bit.’
Libby rolled her eyes. ‘No-one needs to answer that question.’
‘I don’t mind,’ Leo said. ‘For Connor and Willow, it was sometime never, and for me, it was last week.’
‘Bollocks,’ Connor replied as Willow started baaing like a sheep.
‘It was a woman!’
‘Her name was Baabraa,’ Willow said to the rest of the table. ‘And it was only because she felt sorry for him.’
‘Well, I don’t care who he managed to shag as long as there’s grandchildren,’ Arthur said. ‘Chop chop.’
‘Lamb chop,’ Willow added.
Estelle looked at James. She’d promised Elyse she wouldn’t reveal she’d met her, but something wasn’t adding up. Why would Beverley say James had never had a girlfriend before when Elyse was living with them and had told Estelle they’d only just broken up? If she managed to get James to answer this question, then it would be another piece of the puzzle.
‘So then,’ she began, trying to keep her tone light and breezy. ‘When did you last have sex?’
James stared at her. ‘Do you really want to know the answer to that?’
Estelle did, and she didn’t. The thought of James having sex with another woman made an unpleasant sensation uncoil inside her that felt a lot like jealousy. But then how else could she corroborate what Elyse had told her?
